Wow! Nashville! What a sight to see as our travels took us to the heartland of Tennessee. Nashville just like any other city is a place worth seeing. With all of the culture it has to offer and historical roots of country music, you won't be disappointed. Now, I know what you're thinking all of you non-country music fans "What is the point of going here when it's nothing but country music, country bars, country, country, country times infinity and beyond...." Well I can definitely say that there is more to it than that. Going here was very interesting for me because I'm not really into the country music scene myself but when you are there, you kind of do develop a liking to it and want to learn more about it. I actually ended up buying postcards of famous country music stars to hang up in a photo collage in my apartment for anyone who is a Pinterest fan out there. There's a great music store downtown that is across the street from the building with the big "TomKats" picture on it where they sell vintage country records and souvenirs

. The prices are a little more than cheap but not what I would call expensive. It's a great place to go to if you want to collect records or take a picture with a cardboard cut out of Elvis. Once you're done with all of your shopping, you can always stay downtown to enjoy a drink at one of the Honky Tonk country bars or if you're feeling a little adventurous, you can take a great bicycle tour around the city. At the time, my best friend and I were not 21 so being adventurous was our only option, but I am sure the alcohol there is no different than any other bars across the country. So, we decided to be the adventurous tourists that we were and wanted to take on Nashville not by car, not by foot, but by bicycle! Yes! Who would ever think that you could actually rent a bicycle at a bike station and ride around! I didn't! Maybe I need to travel around the States more often so that I'm not the only one who is excited by this. I must say though that this is such a great way to see the city. Not only do you get a great leg workout, but you're still outdoors and can enjoy the lovely people and fresh air. (Warning: Don't wear a skirt whilst riding a bicycle. Especially on a windy day. It does not work) There are bike stations that are spread out across the city. All you have to do is go to the machine, charge your credit card (2 hours was around $15-$20), and voila! You pick any available bike and enjoy your ride. The bike even comes with a lock in case you want to make a stop anywhere AND a basket in case you want to pull an E.T

. and ride off into the sunset....or if you just need a place to put your bag, I guess that can also work too. We biked around the city and stopped to take many photos since we are both film students (it's this weird artsy urge we all have but the photo opportunities are fantastic) and eventually decided to visit the Parthenon. "The Parthenon? You mean like in Greece? I thought this was Tennessee?" I thought to myself as I looked at the huge structure before me. Apparently, the people of Tennessee thought it would be cool to build a replica of the historical building. You can take a tour of it for $10 (the inside is a museum) but if you want to partake in the free lifestyle like us college folk, you can walk around the building and take pictures of it from the outside. What's nice about this area is that The Parthenon is located in a huge green park. There's a pond, people having picnics, and snow cone vendors! We got snow cones for $2.50. It was definitely a nice way to cool off from the summer sun beating down on us. At this point, our 2 hour bike rental was coming to an end, so we decided to return them and walk to the Nashville Shelby Street Bridge to take a million more photos. This is a really nice place to relax and people watch. Please be careful though because there are a lot of panhandlers here so you want to make sure that you stay safe and always have a buddy with you. If you are a solo traveler please bring pepper spray for emergencies and always be aware of your surroundings. Now for the food, the food.....where do I even begin?! I think any of the restaurants that you choose will have great food but I can definitely say that Sloco's is amazing! It's a great vegan/vegetarian restaurant with great prices and well cooked food. Everything is organic and fresh, nothing artificial here! You drink out of mason jars and you recycle your wrappers when you're finished eating. It's very eco friendly! I'm sad to say that this is where our time in Nashville ended BUT on to greater and better things right?! We set our GPS and were ready to set sail to our next destination....Memphis, TN...too bad we couldn't ride our bikes there into the sunset E.T. style.